So I'm re-configuring here. Because who am I kidding . . . this hasn't been a "regular" blog (whatever that means!) for a long, long time, and I might as well stop pretending it is.

I'm re-envisioning this site as more of an "online presence," a kind of collage of elements related to my life and my identity that can evolve as I do. The writing will probably be limited to a kind of monthly or bi-monthly "Postcard from my Life." But I'm thinking I'll add links and pictures and other stuff on an ongoing basis, with the intent of creating a more multi-dimensional symbol of myself.

For me, maintaining a website has always been a kind of magical act. A website is a little universe that you get to create and maintain and contemplate and rule over. It functions kind of like the Dreamtime or the Astral Plane . . . as a "rough draft" for reality. You can try out just about anything in this little digital place, you can be just about anyone. If you don't like what you have created, you trash the files, and no harm is done. If you look at your creation and say, "It is good!" . . . well, then it gets to burn here like a little perpetual candle, phosphorescing its mojo out into the universe 24/7. Before you know it, the things you created here begin to work their way into the rest of your life.

When I needed to find my voice, writing a blog was a powerful way to start. When I needed to connect to other people, friendships in cyberspace helped me to develop friendships in real life. When I felt powerless or hopeless, I could always come here to vent my opinions, bemoan my fate, or just get stuff off my chest. Then I would begin to feel whole and strong again.

I will still use this place to find my voice and connect with people and vent. But I really want to create a bigger, more complete reflection of me, one which includes more than just my words and my thoughts.

I'm excited to find out what it will be like!

Listening to the "Broadway's Best" station on Sirius. Bea Arthur is singing selections from "Gypsy." Horrifying!!

I really don't want to write about Terri Schiavo because her situation is so terribly, terribly sad, and so totally no one's business except her family and the courts granted jurisdiction by law to settle family disputes of this nature. None of the rest of us has any right to judge Mrs. Schiavo's husband or her parents.

But one note from a kind of academic point of view . . . if you can tolerate legalese, the various court rulings on Mrs. Schiavo's situation make interesting reading. People seem very quick these days to say, "How can the courts act like this?" But before throwing around the term "activist judge," I believe that people should at least bother to read the many pages of methodical reasoning that back up each court decision (including, of course, the dissenting opinions of the few judges that have not agreed with the final rulings).

What emerges is a much more clear-cut picture of the situation than many culture-war drama-queens would like to paint. A couple points . . .

- Some congressmen are now saying that the federal courts have deliberately disregarded the intent of the "special legislation" passed last week. In fact, one of the court rulings includes an extensive excerpt from the Congressional record showing that an early draft of the legislation included a specific requirement that a federal court order Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube to be re-connected. This provision was deliberately removed, with the intent that the court would be free to make its own decision on the matter.

Sadly, I'm willing to bet that the angry congressmen are not deliberately lying about the issue of intent . . . they probably just weren't paying attention to the actual wording of the law they were passing.

- It is clear that the attorneys representing Mrs. Schiavo's parents had no clear legal theory as to why earlier court rulings should be overturned. They were simply throwing out everything they could think of and hoping something would stick. For example, the assertion was made that Michael Schiavo was violating Mrs. Schiavo's rights under the "Americans with Disabilities Act." The court found multiple reasons to disagree with the this, but the most basic one was the fact that the ADA governs public entities and public accommodations. The court was forced to point out the embarrassingly obvious fact that "Defendant Michael Schiavo . . . is neither a public entity . . . nor a public accommodation."

By the way, I got Sirius satellite radio a few months ago, and listen to it all the time. So I think I'm going to start indicating with each post what I'm listening to.

Right now, its Tech Nation on the NPR Talk station . . . a very interesting piece on intersex individuals.

I had wondered why I hadn't gotten any spam comments during the long period I wasn't paying much attention to this site. I thought, "Hey, that MT-Blacklist is really doing its job!"

As it turns out . . . and as some of you have discovered . . . the Blacklist was working too well . . . blocking all comments. Even those from real, well-intentioned human beings.

Problem fixed! You're now free to share with me all your customary wit and wisdom, you free-minded denizens of Blogtopia!

Ah, my old nemesis, the flu. Or the cold. Who can really tell? How bad does the fever have to be to qualify as a flu?

I was just sick about two months ago, with a pretty much identical bug, so I kind of feel like I already did my time, and a second go-round is remarkably unjust.

But oh, well. At least I have a week of vacation ahead of me. One of the biggest stresses for me of being sick is that I usually have a bunch of other stuff that needs to get done, so I'm either unable to rest, or feel immensely guilty resting. This time around, at least, I don't have that added tension.

I know everyone dislikes being sick . . . but I have some fairly extreme anxieties about illness. I'm not really a hypochondriac, but I'm something similar. Hypochondriacs believe they are sick when they aren't. My phobia is more future time than present . . . I'm paranoid about becoming sick. Whenever I have any slight disturbance in my body, I assume that it's the first step in a downhill slide that will result in catastrophic meltdown.

I remind myself that no illness I have ever had has become particularly catastrophic. Even the really bad two-week flu that did send me to the emergency room twice, and the extremely painful recurring ear infections of my childhood, pretty much just went away on their own. Treatment received in those cases was just to make me more comfortable while my body did its work of naturally healing itself.

I guess I just need to admit it . . . my body wants to be healthy. I just have to stay out of its way and not freak out while it's fixing itself.

Just a note to the general public for next St. Patrick's Day . . .

Not everyone looks good in green.

And not every color was meant to co-exist in the same outfit with green.

Please, people. Don't make my eyes bleed again.

Rocky Horror facts from the Fresh Air interview of Tim Curry:

- One of the first known people to start the Rocky Horror audience participation craze was Angie Bowie, David Bowie's first wife. David went to see the movie in the late '70s with a huge entourage. When Riff Raff was about to kill Frank, Angie yelled out, "Don't do it!" A phenomenon was born.

- Another early participant in the Rocky cult was Mark Shaiman, more recently composer of the South Park movie and the musical Hairspray.

- When Tim met Princess Diana, he assumed that she had never seen Rocky Horror. She surprised him by saying that she had. "It quite completed my education," she claimed.

The interview can be streamed here.